Retying Your Red Thread of Fate
by xXRottWeilerXx
Summary: The first time they met, she was just Inoue to him. A friend of a friend, the weird bubbly girl that called him 'Renji-kun'. But slowly, she became someone much more to him. /My first attempt at a RenHime two-shot story/
1. CHAPTER1: HIM

**Retying Your Red Thread of Fate**

**A/N: So here I am, with a RenjiHime stroy. Yes, RenHime. I've just watched episode 303 of the anime and I saw some RenHime moments in there; the time when she changed at Urahara's and told him about spending time with loved ones, and the time when he and Ichigo and some others met her and Rukia at the shrine. I really liked the latter, when Orihime had thanked Renji for coming and I think he kinda blushed… I don't know… but they seemed cute together, no? I really like IchiHime, but sometimes I just can't seem to hate RenHime. So there we have it, my reasons for doing this RenHime oneshot. Hope you like it.  
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><p><strong>CHAPTER1: HIM.<strong>

He hadn't realized, when he had started to like her.

'Like' was an understatement at the moment.

He just realized he loved her.

He fell in love with her so hard, it scared him.

Renji hadn't given much attention towards Orihime the first time he had met her. He couldn't even remember her name properly when he came to the World of the Living to see Ichigo just before the Bounts appeared. He just knew her as a friend of Ichigo; that cheery, long-haired girl whom intruded Soul Society with Ichigo to save Rukia, the one with the unusual abilities. Maybe it was her special powers that led him to remember her name the second time they met at Urahara's.

The day she was kidnapped by the mod souls, Renji, Chad, Ishida and Ichigo had been to her apartment to search for clues of her disappearance. His first impression when they stepped in was that she was a lonely girl. It was most due to the fact that her apartment had little furnishing, and also for the fact that he saw the picture of her brother in front of a small shrine. He didn't know why, but he felt a little bit sorry for the healer. She was young, but she seemed lonely. And if it wasn't because of the surge of weird reiatsu the boys sensed on the day of her disappearance near her home, no one would've known she was kidnapped by those mod souls.

She was weird, that he knew.

It was when they asked her about what happened when she was kidnapped. She had said there was a tea party.

If it wasn't for his little squabble with Ichigo a few moments earlier, he would've chuckled a bit at her random answer.

Seriously, who would have a tea party in the middle of a kidnap anyway?

Ah yes, Urahara-san would.

In the end it was that ex-Captain whom kidnapped the bubbly girl and Chad. Never he felt so annoyed at someone at that moment. Renji had been fighting with Ichigo meaninglessly and they had even run around the town during one of those stupid games just to save Orihime and Chad. But then the gentle giant had said that there was indeed a tea party, and Orihime had been so innocent when she said, "I told you so." She was kind of cute when she said that, but that thought had gone as fast as it had appeared.

It had been just that one time when he actually looked at the girl.

Time passed when they fought the Bounts, him nearly getting killed but managed to survive. He didn't take his time observing Orihime, and thus their relationship was just like it had always been. Not-so-close friends. A friend of a friend. That cheery weird girl, that tattooed guy with the red hair.

Then the Espadas popped out of nowhere. They attacked Chad, and Orihime was there too.

Renji was quite surprised when Orihime and Chad came back to Urahara's, seriously injured and unconscious. Later that night he heard Yoruichi telling Urahara about Orihime trying to protect Chad with her shield and lost her Tsubaki when she launched Koten Zasshun. Ichigo had come later, but somehow the orange-head lost control of his own body and ended up beaten by Yammy. It was later in the morning when he saw Orihime lying in the futon, her arm bandaged and her face patched with gauzes. He had watched Ichigo apologizing to the healer for not being able to protect her, and he had watched, with slight fascination, how she had smiled and laughed it off.

She had smiled.

It made him wonder, just what exactly is this girl made of? Was she human?

She had stayed at Urahara's that night. The door to her room was left open a bit, and he watched her sleep. He wondered why such a frail woman as her would risk herself protecting her friends from an enemy that was so out of her league? Yammy was bigger than her, and much stronger. But Orihime…

"Renji-kun? Is that you?" She had called out to him, her voice sleepy.

He looked at her, and saw her sitting up in the futon. "You awake already?"

The girl nodded, and a sleepy smile stretched upon her face. "I can't sleep knowing you're not taking a nap. Do you have something to ask me?"

Renji thought for a while, and he decided to let himself in her room to sit next to her.

"You're weird." He had said.

She had looked at him questioningly then, her eyes blinking away the sleepiness. Then she laughed softly, a sound he thought of as chimes in the middle of the night.

"I get that a lot, Renji-kun. Yes, I think I am, why?"

The redhead scratched a spot under his chin, suddenly thinking twice of what he was about to ask.

"Why did you fight Yammy? He was like, really huge, and now you're all beaten."

"I wanted to protect Sado-kun and Tatsuki-chan, Kurosaki-kun too..."

"That's stupid." He didn't mean to sound harsh, but he couldn't help himself. How could someone be selfless?

He waited a while, his eyes focusing on a spot above her head. The room was dark, the light from the corridors spilled into the room, illuminating Orihime just enough for him to notice she was smiling yet again before looking down at her hands, folded neatly into her lap.

"Did you know, that I lost onii-chan when I was younger?" She could sense the tattooed shinigami nod a fraction, and decided to continue.

"Ever since I was a small girl, Tatsuki-chan was always there to protect me from bullies and a lot of dangerous people. She was my protector then and now. And I loved it, that I had someone I can always rely on..."

Renji decided to look at her as he saw her touch her hairpins with her good hand. Her smile disappeared, and he could clearly see her eyes getting glassy, a clear sign that she was about to cry.

But she didn't. She didn't cry, she held it in.

"Sado-kun, he nearly lost an arm today, when he fought Yammy. He shouldn't have fought with that Espada, I knew that... _he _knew that he couldn't have stood a chance against his enemy... but he did it anyways... because I realized that he was protecting me."

She took a shaky breath, and he waited for her to continue.

"Sometimes I just... you know... feel that I'm a burden... And I hate it, I just hate it. I really appreciate my friends for protecting me, but I want to do something in return. I want to protect them too, Tatsuki-chan, Sado-kun, all my friends."

She blinked back her tears. "I want to protect everyone too. Isn't that what friends are for? To protect each other? I'm sure you understand me, because you and Kurosaki-kun make a good team when you back each other up. Ne, Renji-kun?"

Renji blinked as she looked up, her tears still there, threatening to fall, but she smiled at him. Her smile was bright, and he found a hard time not to smile back. It was almost a blur to him when he heard her say,

"And maybe I can also protect you from those little blue men and brain-sucking aliens too."

Her arm was bandaged, he spotted a purple bruise on one side of her chin, and her forehead was bandaged. Her ridiculously long beautiful hair flowed down her back like a glowing waterfall in the dead of the night, and her grey, oh her grey eyes were bright and round. Her face was patched up all over but god bless his heart.

She was beautiful.

He had cleared his throat then, and quickly stood up to get out of her room. Stepping out of the room, he put a hand on the door to slide it shut. He had caught her eyes, and averted his gaze somewhere else to mutter, "That was such an ass backward reason, boke. Now get back to sleep."

She had laughed, and yawned. "Aye aye, Renji-kun."

Orihime's cheery reply had the corners of his mouth tug up into a small grin.

He had let out a breath then, as he slid the door closed for good.

Rukia had come back, and she was attacked by Grimjow, nearly dying. He never felt so torn before when he saw Ichigo straddling her, calling out her name. He was battling another Espada then, so busy he was that he couldn't keep his promise to always protect Rukia.

Then he felt it. It was Orihime.

She was healing Rukia, and he knew then, it was going to be alright.

He had thanked Orihime for healing Rukia, and of course, the healer smiled back.

But he noticed that the smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

Orihime was sad. He knew that just by looking at her eyes. Her grey eyes lacked that shine when she smiled.

It felt wrong and... weird.

Everyone was busy planning the oncoming Winter War, but nobody noticed the forlorn look in her eyes. Maybe he was just over reacting. He had thought that maybe she was just tired. She did a lot of healing that time, and he wondered when her body would give way.

He noticed the tear marks on her cheeks when he came to check upon Rangiku. They were faint lines, very so, but the marks were there. Renji hadn't known why he could see it, and wanted to ask Ichigo.

Wait, Ichigo?

The orange-head had a torn look on his face when he looked at Rukia.

Realization hit him.

He wasn't imagining stuff.

That lost look in her eyes. The missing shine in her round, grey eyes when she smiled...

Abarai Renji might be dense when it came to feelings, but he knew what transpired between those three.

Never in his life had he felt so angry at Ichigo.

He had secretly liked her laughter. He had just realized that.

Yes, he was stubborn to admit it then; but something tugged at his heart when he knew, oh when he knew she had those sad eyes trained on the Substitute Shinigami.

"I'm sorry, Inoue-san, but I'm afraid you have to sit out during this War."

Everyone present was shocked.

Again, that little _something _tugged at his heart when she looked at Urahara, her face unreadable.

And goddammit she _smiled._

He had wanted to bonk her head so hard for being such an idiot.

Why in the world was she smiling when it was clear that her abilities, her unique abilities were brushed aside?

Renji decided to let off some steam when he trained with Chad. A few days after that he had heard from Hitsugaya-taichou that Ichigo was nowhere to be found, but no need to worry because Orihime had found him. He felt kind of jealous then, because it was crystal clear that the only possible reason she could have found the orange top had been because she had concentrated very hard to sense his reiatsu. He had wished someone had done that for him too.

Some moment after that, he heard news that Rukia was training with Orihime in Soul Society. He couldn't stop the pride swelling in his chest.

Good girl. Be stronger and prove to everyone that you are worthy enough to fight next to Ichigo.

Next to him...

Orihime disappeared the next day.

He was speechless when Yamamoto-soutaichou declared her a traitor.

No. Orihime was the kindest person he knew. She was not a traitor.

He wanted to blame Ichigo, Urahara and maybe even Rukia. Maybe if Ichigo hadn't look so torn when Rukia was injured that one time, maybe if Rukia didn't bring her to Soul Society, maybe if Urahara hadn't been so harsh to her about her abilities... Orihime wouldn't have been gone.

Renji wanted to blame them, but when he looked at the way Ichigo reacted... maybe he was wrong.

He felt bad for even thinking of his friends... his best friends like that. That guilt brought him to follow Rukia to Hueco Mundo, and fight with Ichigo to search for Orihime.

Maybe Ichigo had feelings for Rukia, but Orihime was still a friend. A very good friend.

And then maybe, just maybe... Orihime was something to Renji.

They just needed to beat the crap out of the Espadas, defeat Aizen, and bring back Orihime.

And they did it.

But then... what was this?

His hopes had died when he saw Orihime crying... That time when they went out of Hueco Mundo in time to see Aizen defeated... She cried tears of joy for _that guy_. For Ichigo.

And Renji couldn't forget the look on Ichigo's face.

No, he was mistaken all along. Ichigo didn't love Rukia, he loved _her. _

Orihime. The only human being Renji had cared more than a friend. More than he had realized until he saw that look in Ichigo's eyes.

They loved each other.

Then where had that left him?

...

...

...

It was more than a year when he last saw her... Ichigo had regained his powers then.

Renji was happy for Ichigo.

Really, really happy.

But he couldn't help feeling jealous of the orange haired Shinigami.

Ichigo might have not realized it yet, but Renji could see that _she _still loved him.

But why weren't they together? That wasn't his concern anyway.

"Renji-kun!"

She still called him 'Renji'. He realized how he missed her calling him that. She never called Ichigo by his name, and Renji secretly loved that. He wanted to smile at her. And smile, he did.

She was still beautiful, and still cheerful.

Her eyes, oh her grey eyes were shining again as her smile widened.

"Renji-kun, isn't it? Oh, wow! I really missed you!"

He couldn't have possibly missed the way her cheeks blush slightly; and he thought that maybe, just maybe...

Maybe he could still love her, and maybe she would realize that.

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><p><strong>AN: Phew! Writing a RenHime fic was waaay harder than I thought! I know... It's kinda short, but I can't really milk out anything more from my brain so there you have it. Please tell me what you thin and if this doesn't turn out well, I'll take this fic down.**

**Hugs and kisses!**


	2. CHAPTER2: HER

**Retying Your Red String of Fate  
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><p><strong>AN: Hoi, hoi! This chapter is about Orihime's POV, as the title suggests. Oh, and I forgot to tell you this story contains mostly spoilers from the anime. Enjoy reading!**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER2: HER<strong>

She knew it was Renji. It _was_ him, that flaming red hair and his odd tattoos. Odd, but fascinating tattoos.

Maybe, if she called him 'Renji', would it still be okay?

"Renji-kun!"

He looked at her, and she saw him grinning back slightly.

She smiled wider. He was still as handsome as ever. Scary-looking, but to her he looked just perfect.

"Renji-kun, isn't it? Oh, wow! I missed you!"

And she meant it. She couldn't forget that day when he sat next to her at Urahara's.

She was back from buying groceries when she found him wandering down the streets in his gigai, and she forgot she shouldn't have stopped walking because now her hands felt really heavy.

"Groceries?" He asked, and she nodded vigorously.

She didn't notice she was blushing when he had offered to bring the groceries for her.

"Thank you! Come on, I'll cook you a welcome home dinner!"

She cooked for him, something normal. She laughed softly when his brow rose.

"You've changed your appetite?"

She laughed again, and missed the way his eyes soften at her laugh.

"Nope, it's just that I don't want to scare you... Oh, wait, do you actually want to try my real cooking?"

He chuckled and shook his head. "No thank you. Thanks, Inoue."

Her laughter died down. "Orihime."

Renji looked up from his plate, a rice ball in his mouth. "Hm?"

She smiled and reached out a hand to wipe off a stray grain of rice from the corner of his mouth. "You can call me Orihime."

Orihime thought he was cute when he looked down and blushed. He cleared his throat and nodded. Without saying anything, he resumed eating.

It was silent. Orihime fiddled with her fingers and nearly jerked when Renji called out to her.

"In-Orihime? Oi, you okay?"

She gave a thumb up and he nodded back. "I uh… thanks again."

Orihime stood up to do the dishes when Renji followed her into the kitchen. After Orihime had politely declined his offer to help with the dishes, he decided to lean against the counter next to her, just content watching her wash the dishes.

"So how's Soul Society?"

He watched her squeeze some dish washing liquid in a small tub, add some water, dip a sponge and started to lather the dishes with the suds formed.

"It's been peaceful enough, save for some chaos from the Tenth Division. Ya know how Rangiku can be."

She laughed then. "I really miss Rangiku-san… how is she?"

He grunted. "Loud. And crazy. She's supposed to come here with me and Rukia, but Hitsugaya-taichou forced her to finish her paperwork… She misses you too."

Orihime switched off the tap water to look at him and smile. "I know."

She wanted to ask him, if he missed her too. But she refrained herself. Why was she like this? She thought she liked Ichigo, but seeing Renji again after quite a while stirred weird feelings inside of her.

Shaking her heads of these confusing thoughts, Orihime resumed washing the dishes.

"Renji-kun?"

"What?"

She didn't know why she decided to ask, but she did anyway. "Do you love Kuchiki-san?"

"I do." He said, but he quickly added, "As a sister."

He watched as she stopped scrubbing a pan, and decided to ask her. "Why?"

She smiled, but her face was sad. "I see… Well, because... you know, I was afraid you loved Kuchiki-san because I know how much she loves Kurosaki-kun, and I know that Kurosaki-kun likes her too thought he doesn't really realize it yet. So now that I know you don't love Kuchiki-san like Kurosaki-kun does, it's safe to say that I can finally plan something for them to be… together… you know… like a couple. What do you think, Renji-kun?"

Orihime didn't hear him answer anything, so she stopped scrubbing and turned to her right to look at Renji. He was scowling.

"Renji-kun?"

He looked away as he scoffed. "I think you should stop lying to yourself and tell him already, boke."

Orihime blushed. "What do you mean, Renji-kun?"

Renji crossed his arms across his chest. "I know that you like Ichigo, you don't have to pretend to be happy for them both."

The girl blushed deeper, and gave a nervous laugh as she busied herself scrubbing off a stubborn spot on the middle of the pan. "I-I uh… Well, it just seems stupid… right? I mean, we're friends, me and Kurosaki-kun. Don't you think it's weird for me to expect him to return my feelings?"

A calloused hand stopped her hand from further rubbing the already clean spot. She looked up to see Renji looking at her, a foreign expression on his face.

"Well then, is it stupid of me to like you?"

"E-Eh? Renji-kun?"

She blushed madly when he pulled her hands out of the sink, with suds and all still clinging to her dainty hands. He placed her hands on his chest and pressed his lips to hers, causing her to gasp and widen her eyes.

Orihime blinked rapidly at him as he pulled back, his nose brushing hers as he apologized.

And apologized.

And apologized.

Then he left, suddenly, when his hollow tracker suddenly beeped.

…

…

…..

She was rearranging her bookshelf when she found a very old novel. It was her brother's, but she never read it. Feeling suddenly nostalgic, she decided to take a look at the title written in bold.

"The Red Thread of Fate." She read, the tips of her fingers gently tracing the letters written in gold ink.

She had heard her brother talk about it before.

The Red Thread of Fate, an invisible red thread that connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. Orihime smiled as she recalled the description her brother gave her. She had asked then, what would happen if this red string breaks?

Sora had laughed and patted her head. "_I don't really know, Orihime. Maybe someone has to tie it up."_

"_But onii-chan, isn't the one you're connected to supposed to be your one and only?"_

Her brother had thought about that for a while, and smiled. _"I don't really know, because we will never know who that other person on the other side is. Maybe there will be somebody who will re-tie that thread, or maybe that red thread was never meant to be broken."_

Orihime remembered that day. She wondered if others knew about it. Of course they would know. She wondered who that person on the other side was. When she met Ichigo, she had thought that he was the one. Maybe he was dense sometimes, but they seemed closer ever since she gained abilities. She held on to that belief that someday Ichigo would tug back the red thread if she was ever to tug at it first. But when Rukia came, it was as if she could feel the red string snap. She ignored it at first, but she couldn't possibly ignore the way the two seemed so comfortable with each other. Looking at them, fighting side by side made her think of one thing only. They had chemistry.

Suddenly, all she could think of was Renji.

Renji-kun.

Renji-kun.

She blushed as she plopped onto her couch. What was she thinking about? Did he really mean it when he kissed her? Because she didn't know what to think of him anymore. What if he was the one on the other end of her string? No, that couldn't be. He was a shinigami, she was a human. They lived in two different worlds, but…. Would it be so wrong? For him to re-tie her broken thread?

Orihime looked around her room, unsure of what to find. Her eyes settled onto a roll of red wool thread.

Why was the red wool there? It was as if begging her to think of The Red Thread of Fate.

She got an idea.

After fumbling around her drawers for a pair of scissors, Orihime finally decided to cut off a length of red wool. She walked towards her balcony, and after hesitating for a while, she tied one end of the thread around her wrist, and let the rest of the thread fall down the balcony, after snipping off the mid-section of the thread. Hoping that somebody would come across her snapped red thread and re-tie the other half for her, Orihime waited by her balcony all night.

It seemed like an hour when she finally sighed, giving up. She wasn't one to easily give up, but as Tatsuki always say, she should really knock some sense into her head sometimes. It wasn't as if anyone would understand her way of thinking.

But when she decided -with a heavy feeling- that she should pull up the red thread, she nearly fell over the railing of her balcony when she felt someone tugging at the other end of it.

A million thoughts ran through her mind. She never knew someone would actually tug unto the thread. But then she nearly fell over the balcony again when the person on the other end tugged again, stronger this time, and she knew that it was real.

Hesitantly, she looked over her railing, and saw a shock of red hair tied in a ponytail. He was in his shihakushou, Zabimaru strapped neatly at his side.

"Renji-kun?"

He blinked up at her, and tugged again. "What are you doing?"

She blushed faintly, and shyly answered him. "I was um… fishing… sort of…"

The Sixth Division Lieutenant raised a brow. "With this thread?"

Think, Orihime. "Um, yeah… You know… the Red Thread of Fate…?"

It took a while for the idea to dawn on him, but when it did, Renji gave her a lopsided grin. "You are weird, Orihime."

He didn't see her blushing.

Renji picked up a stray length of red thread and held it up with his other hand. "Isn't this thread not supposed to be broken?"

Orihime scratched the back of her head, laughing shyly. "W-Well…"

For a few seconds, Renji looked up at her, and suddenly he knew what she meant. With a chuckle, he tied the ends of the strings together. He tugged the thread again, and panicked a bit when Orihime dangerously stumbled towards the edge of her balcony.

She gasped when she saw him tying the two ends together.

"Renji-kun… You… tied it together?"

Orihime didn't know if she was happy or surprised that he actually tied the ends together. Sensing her mixed feelings, Renji tugged again for the last time before he yelled out at her, a big grin on his face.

"Does this mean we have a chance? You and me?"

It took a while for Orihime to compose herself before she smiled that beaming smile of hers, that smile only reserved for him, before she yelled back, her hands cupping the sides of her mouth.

"Of course!"

She giggled then, when she saw Renji's grin widen, ignoring the stares she got from her neighbours. She was talking to someone unseen to the eyes of others, but she couldn't be any happier. For she found the one who re-tied her red thread of fate.

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><p><strong>AN: How was this? Good? Bad? Please tell me what you think, kay?**

**Hugs and kisses!**


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